Thanks, that's actually one of the things I am doing for all of them! I see
to it that none of my kitties are stressed. :)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Cougar Clan" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2009 10:13 AM
Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] How to long to separate negative/positive kitties?
My holistic vet prescribed various "meds" to reduce stress including
Rescue Remedy and Feliway. Perhaps yours has some ideas along those
lines?
On Aug 4, 2009, at 9:08 AM, Lisa Borden wrote:
Hi Iva,
I just wanted to tell you how much I can relate to your dilemma. Last
year, I brought Tommy home and successfully introduced him to his new
brother and sister, only to find out that he was FeLV+. I was given the
same two options - separate or euthanize. I can only tell you what I
did. I tried separating, but like what is happening in your home,
everyone was unhappy about it. I took Tommy to a holistic vet and she
told me that separation is stressful to everyone, and this can make it
easier for the virus to take over and make Tommy sick.
So what I decided to do is NOT separate, keep everyone vaccinated
against FeLV (except Tommy), and keep stress to a minimum. Almost a year
later, Tommy is showing no signs of illness, and he just turned a year
old. My others also show no signs of illness, and I plan to get them
tested when they go back to the vet this year, and boosted for FeLV
vaccine if they are still negative.
I think you said in your other post that they have been living together
for a while? And they are still negative? That tells me that they have
mature immune systems that are capable of fighting off the virus. It is
likely that they will stay negative.
Hope that helps,
Lisa
----- Original Message ----- From: "Iva Lark Emily Seaberg"
<[email protected]
>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2009 1:29 AM
Subject: [Felvtalk] How to long to separate negative/positive kitties?
Thank you everyone for the warm welcome! It was very reassuring to read
all of your posts, especially those with multi-cat mixed households. I
spoke to the vet this morning and she was actually ok with my decision,
but she wants me to keep my positive kitty isolated for now. She didn't
say how long, though I know she is hoping for indefinitely. We are
putting Becca on antibiotics for her oral inflammation and then
steroids, which I know will temporarily decrease her immune system more
but could be worth it in helping her fight the virus back?
Anyway, here is my dilemna. Currently, Becca is isolated in my master
bedroom/bath. All the cats are unhappy about this. The two negative
kitties sit outside the door and reach their paws under to her. They
meow at me with a clear "Umm, Mom we want our sister back." and they try
and sneak in there. She in turn tries to sneak out and is seeming a bit
down. She's exceptionally affectionate when we go in there, more so than
usual, but she's not eating as much and seems almost a bit depressed.
She kept me up all night trying to love on me. I also know it is a small
space and can get lonely. Now, I've read what everyone said about
stressing her and I don't want to do that, so here's my dilemna. How
long should she be quarantined for? The negative kitties JUST got their
first vaccine on Friday and won't be at full protection until they get
their boosters in 2.5 weeks. Should I keep her in there until at least
then? Should I just let her out now? I really
really want to minimize the negative's risk of exposure because I don't
want them to be infected.
I did read the articles everyone mentioned and it was still unclear to
me where in the articles it says that it is safe to expose a negative to
a positive. It still said they could infect, but no odds were mentioned,
so therefore they should be separated. See below:
"Uninfected cats in a household with infected cats should be vaccinated;
however, other means of protecting uninfected cats (eg, physical
separation) should also be used. Constant exposure to FeLV- infected cats
is likely to result in viral transmission regardless of vaccination
status."
"In ~70% of adult cats, viremia and virus shedding are transient,
lasting only 1-16 wk. A few cats continue to shed virus in secretions
for several weeks to months after they cease to be viremic. Virus may
persist in bone marrow for a longer period, but even this latent, or
sequestered, infection usually disappears within 6 mo. Some FeLV-exposed
cats (~30%) do not mount an adequate immune response and go on to become
persistently (ie, permanently) viremic. Persistently viremic cats
develop fatal diseases after a variable time period"
What if she's just now in the shedding stage? Is she considered
persisently viremic at this point as she's had gum issues for a few
months? Does that mean she is currently shedding the virus?
I almost wonder if the positives that aren't infecting the negatives
aren't at the viral shedding stage. Is it really safe to expose the
other kitties? Should I keep her quarantined for the next 2.5 weeks or
does it really matter? I'm torn. On one hand I don't want to stress her
unnecessarily, especially when I'm about to have to give her antibiotics
twice a day and steroids twice a day. She is going to hate that. I don't
want her to lose weight either, she's always been a tiny, dainty thing
and she doesn't have any weight to lose! On the other hand I don't want
to infect my other babies and I can't help but worry that to let her out
now, before they have full vaccine protection at least, much less before
the steroids have a chance to calm her virus down would be to stack the
odds against them.
I need advice!
Iva
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Marylyn, Copper & Thomas
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